Dear Friends,
There is a growing spirit of joy which is filling my heart. Just about the time I believe life couldn’t get any better it does. Sometimes I think my relationship with God couldn’t get any better – WRONG! God continues to tell me in my thoughts that I am and always will be loved. I have a very precious relationship with my wife Karen. We recently celebrated our 43 wedding anniversary. God has filled us with a rich and abiding love for each other. It has been a gift, but one which we have had to work toward faithfully. On top of that I have been blessed with two incredible daughters. Being a child of the 60′s I have felt that the revolution, or any change in the world, will begin in the family. Next to Karen my daughters have filled my heart with richness. They have been open to the gift they are and have worked diligently to flesh God’s Love out in their lives.
I celebrated the 32 anniversary of my Ordination this past May. Little did I know what God had in store for me. There have been many highs and lows along the way. That is the way it is when you live in community and share life with others. I know I did what I was called to do. It feels so right inside when one is blessed with this kind of inner knowing. Now that I am retired I am ready to take on the next tasks God is placing before me. This web site with its various writings is the first thing. I am now ready to send some of those reflections and poems to various devotional magazines. I also am about to embark on the writing of my next book. This one will be of prose rather than my first book of poetry. The second calling of retirement is to continue to offer spiritual direction to individuals interested in deepening their relationship with God. Last I am now working as a consultant and public relations person for CRC Trucking Company’s’ “Pay It Forward” program. We offer to the challenged schools in the New Orleans area an opportunity to grow with the surrounding community. Yes just about the time you think God couldn’t bless you any more it happens – God says “Oh yes I can!”
Earlier in my life I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. For the good times to not just slow down, but to also stop. Isn’t that the prevailing mood of this day and age? When is the goodness going to end? When is the next terrorist attack going to occur? When will the economy fall apart again? And on and on! Now I am not a Pollyanna person. I know life is not always successful or good, at least as the world describes it. Many proclaim a God who blesses you with bounty or good times. That is correct, but only as it pertains to what is happening inside our spirit. On a rainy outer day God provides a Son who walks with us or for us. When life falls apart God says I am greater then those problems or even life itself. I am Life Eternal. When the other shoe drops and it often does, God’s inner shoe of Love will drop too stomping out our fears. After we have grieved the outer pains and trials of life, we find a God bringing a Son to Shine into our hearts.
There is an expression that says, “Attitude Is Everything.” How true. When our outer glass of life is half empty our inner glass of spirit is not only half full, but also totally full with the Unconditional Love and Acceptance from God. It is up to us to believe it.
Peace
Gary